Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9304728" data-attributes="member: 6790260">I think it can be compelling, but it has to be managed very carefully, and requires that at least one PC is particularly devout.That is, Eberron's take on religion does foster much more realistic overall religious behavior, but it loses out on one key fantasy for certain players (such as myself): &quot;You have done well, my good and faithful servant.&quot; Hearing that from a religious leader just isn't as powerful as hearing it straight from the deity's mouth, and never really will be.The problem with D&amp;D-style henotheism is that it's often (a) pretty lazy, just sort of &quot;yeah gods exist, moving on,&quot; (b) rarely interactive, as the gods usually just pronounce commandments and then frick off to whatever heavenly distractions they preoccupy themselves with, and (c) rarely allowed to show any development or arc, which is so important for having religion actually matter to the characters.It is, perhaps bluntly, a benevolent agnostic's view of what actually being a devout and practicing theist is like. It means well--but it fundamentally misunderstands many things. (I know that really it's probably an issue of trying to find a middle-ground hybrid between actual Christian practice and having multiple gods, but the implementation is pretty weak.) This is part of why I love the focused, specific pantheon of the World Axis, and how it is actually used to develop the world, not just existing as sort of nebulous sky-grandparents who dispense gifts, orders, or displeasure at seemingly random intervals.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9304728, member: 6790260"] I think it can be compelling, but it has to be managed very carefully, and requires that at least one PC is particularly devout. That is, Eberron's take on religion does foster much more realistic overall religious behavior, but it loses out on one key fantasy for certain players (such as myself): "You have done well, my good and faithful servant." Hearing that from a religious leader just isn't as [I]powerful[/I] as hearing it straight from the deity's mouth, and never really will be. The problem with D&D-style henotheism is that it's often (a) pretty lazy, just sort of "yeah gods exist, moving on," (b) rarely interactive, as the gods usually just pronounce commandments and then frick off to whatever heavenly distractions they preoccupy themselves with, and (c) rarely allowed to show any development or arc, which is [I]so[/I] important for having religion actually matter to the characters. It is, perhaps bluntly, a benevolent agnostic's view of what actually being a devout and practicing theist is like. It means well--but it fundamentally misunderstands many things. (I know that really it's probably an issue of trying to find a middle-ground hybrid between actual Christian practice and having multiple gods, but the implementation is pretty weak.) This is part of why I love the focused, specific pantheon of the World Axis, and how it is actually used to [I]develop[/I] the world, not just existing as sort of nebulous sky-grandparents who dispense gifts, orders, or displeasure at seemingly random intervals. [/QUOTE]

Verification